Penalty Logic and Genomic Encoding
Teresita Mijangos
Abstract:
Universal Grammar (UG) is characterized by the assumption that all
human languages share a common structure with respect to their
linguistic well-formedness conditions. In Optimality Theory (OT) this
structure is represented by a set of linguistic candidate forms, a set
of constraints and the definition of being optimal. The nativist view
of OT assumes that such a structure is encoded in a Language
Acquisition Device (LAD) provided to a learner of a language
genetically.
The symbolic and the biological levels in which OT and the LAD are
respectively, can be complemented with an intermediate level: the
connectionist level. In this thesis, our purpose is focus on the link
of the symbolic and the connectionist level with a logical
stage. Through an example based on the CV Syllable Theory of OT, we
build a bridge among OT-Connectionism-Penalty Logic. In particular,
for the link OT-Connectionism, we take from Smolensky and Legendre
(2005) a translation of the CV Syllable Theory into connectionist
terms. Such a translation is called CV_net. For the link
Connectionism-Penalty Logic, we propose a translation, expressed in
the penalty knowledge base 'cv'. This last translation has as purpose
to simplify the encoding of the common structure U suggested by
CV_net. In fact, such a translation could be seen as an alternative
encoding of U. As advantages, it has its simplicity and the enrichment
of the linguistic exploration with logic's tools.;
Keywords: Universal Grammar, Optimality Theory, Connectionism, Penalty Logic